


The Friends & Lovers Redundancy

by imamaryanne



Category: Big Bang Theory
Genre: M/M, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-09
Updated: 2013-01-10
Packaged: 2017-11-18 07:40:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/558513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imamaryanne/pseuds/imamaryanne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Raj and Stuart. </p><p>Raj said, “Oh, one more thing, Stuart.”</p><p>“Yeah?” Stuart asked, exhausted from moving displays. </p><p>“Were you ever going to tell me you’re gay?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Stuart's Plans

Stuart had assumed that when Wolowitz came back from space, Raj would no longer come by the comic shop frequently. That he and Raj wouldn’t hang out and get takeout, or go to the movies any longer. So he was pleasantly surprised when, the very night Wolowitz touched down, Raj came into the comic shop bearing Thai food. 

“I brought Thai,” Raj exclaimed, holding up the bag. 

By this point, there were no customers left in the store, not even Captain Sweatpants. So Stuart gladly pulled a second chair up to the counter so he and Raj could eat. 

“What are your plans tonight?” Raj asked.

Stuart sighed. “I think I was going to check out some of the extras on The Avengers Blu-Ray. I haven’t seen them yet.”

Raj shook his head, “Neither have I. Would you like some company?”

Stuart glanced at his backroom, which was currently serving as his apartment as well. “It’s not so comfortable back there,” he admitted. 

Raj, the only person who knew of Stuart’s living situation, nodded thoughtfully. “I’m not here for the comfort,” he said, “I’m here for the company.”

Raj’s sentiment brought a small, quick lump to Stuart’s throat, which he quickly cleared away. “Yeah, if you’re interested.”

“Joss Whedon is so good at commentary,” Raj said, trying to keep away from the subject of Stuart’s makeshift apartment. 

They finished their food, and Raj helped Stuart close and clean the store. Once that was finished, they headed to the back room to watch the Blu-Ray. They remained silent for most of it, except for the occasional comment on the film. “I really love this scene,” or “Mark Ruffalo was better than I expected as Hulk.”

When the film was through, Stuart let Raj out the front door of the store and relocked it behind him. He leaned against the door, smiling. He pondered the nature of his friendship with Raj, still incredibly happy that Raj came to see him even though Howard was back in town. Stuart, normally so closed off to everyone about everything except comics, was thinking how much of a friend he considered Raj. 

Wil Wheaton was a close acquaintance, someone who he could talk to about nerdy things. And Raj was that as well, but there seemed to be more to it with Raj than there was with Wheaton. Stuart had told Raj about giving up the lease on his apartment and moving in to the back store. And while Stuart had been embarrassed by it, Raj was great. He’s the one who offered to store Stuart’s items at his own apartment, “just until you get back on your feet.” 

Raj was a friend, definitely. More than an acquaintance, Stuart thought. Friends should know more about each other than he and Raj did. Especially the one big thing. 

Raj continued to come by the comic shop frequently and even invited Stuart along to his friend’s hangouts at Leonard and Sheldon’s apartment. For the first time in his life, Stuart was feeling like he belonged somewhere. Even Sheldon’s insinuations that Stuart didn’t really belong didn’t bother him. Mostly because it was Sheldon, and he’d found out that you had to give Sheldon a lot of slack on matters of personal feelings. Also, out of all of them, Sheldon spent the most money at the shop, and Stuart wasn’t about to make his best customer angry. 

One Tuesday, when the new comics came in, the entire gang came in to the store to pick up their subscriptions and take a look at what else was available. 

While Leonard, Sheldon and Howard flipped through the collections, Raj came directly to the counter to talk to Stuart, who was bent over a piece of paper, scribbling notes. “What are you working on?” Raj asked. 

Stuart looked up. “Plans to improve business around here.”

Raj raised his eyebrows, “What have you got?”

“Well,” Stuart said nervously. He hoped his idea didn’t sound ridiculous. “I think more kids need to get interested in reading comics. Then the kids become adults and they continue to buy comics. If I do something to get kids in here, maybe I can have them for life.”

Raj nodded. “That sounds about right. What are you going to do?”

Stuart licked his lips, “I’m going to offer students in the area free comics for making honor roll. If they bring in their report card and a parent, they get a choice of free comics.”

Raj looked concerned, “Giving away comics for free? How will you make money?”

“That the thing. I’m going to go through my bins of dollar comics and pick out the ones that are kid-appropriate. These are already dollar comics, so I’m not going to make money on them. But I will set a table up right next to the kiddie-comic section, so kids can go through the boxes, see a bunch of crap in there. But then they also see the latest Marvel Adventures or Superman Family Adventures and ask their parents for that.”

“That’s actually not a bad idea.”

“And there’s more,” Stuart continued. “I’m going to set the racks of kid comics by the window right there,” he pointed to the big front window, “then put a little table in front of it, in view of the whole store. Hopefully, the parents will leave their little honor roll darlings there, and browse the store themselves. And maybe dad will remember how much he liked the movie Superman as a kid, and he’ll decide to buy a Superman comic for himself. Or Mom won’t believe they’re still making Archie comics and she just has to see if Archie has chosen Betty or Veronica yet, and maybe she’ll buy the latest for herself.” 

“So the point is to increase traffic in the store.”

“Right,” Stuart nodded. “I figure even if less than half of the honor-roll kids come in, and less than half of those end up with something besides their free comic, I’ll still make money on it. Or even if they only take their free comic, maybe it will be sitting there in their house, and one day a younger sibling will pick it up and decide to get in to comics. The more kids are exposed to comics, the more likely they will continue to read.”

“You’re really excited about this.”

“Well, yeah. It’s my business.” He paused. “But I also really want to move out of my back room.”

Raj laughed a little. “Let me know if I can help.”

“Yeah. I will. I’m going to send an email to a few elementary and middle school principals tonight. If they like the plan, I’ll let you know.”

****

 

Every principal said yes to Stuart almost immediately. Unfortunately, every principal had also let him know that report cards were going to be handed out in one week, meaning Stuart had less than one week to go through his comics, pull out which would be free, buy a table, rearrange his store, and print up free comic certificates that would be handed out at each school for the honor roll kids. Even though Stuart couldn’t afford to hire help, he now luckily had a friend he could call. 

He called Raj at work for help. “I’ll be there right after work,” Raj promised. 

Stuart was looking forward to an entire evening with Raj. Not just for the help, but for the company. Stuart couldn’t help himself, he found himself thinking about Raj more and more throughout the day, wondering and hoping that Raj would swing by that evening. 

When Raj walked into the store less than half hour after his workday ended, Stuart looked up from his laptop and smiled. His heart skipped a beat when Raj came over and side-arm hugged him. “This is great, your plan is working.”

“Right,” Stuart agreed. “But I have so much to do in so little time.”

“I’m here for you,” Raj assured him. “What are you doing now?”

“Writing up a little certificate that will go with each honor roll report card,” Stuart explained. He turned the laptop a little so Raj could see it.

Raj leaned down and read, “Congratulations on making the honor roll. Bring this certificate and your report card to the Comic Center of Pasadena and choose a free comic book for your accomplishment.” Raj nodded, “Sounds good. But don’t forget that a parent needs to be with them.”

“Right,” Stuart said. He leaned down and started typing. “We’ll put that in small type at the bottom. We’ll also note that the free comics applies to comic books that have been pre-selected.” 

Stuart stopped typing for a moment and rubbed his eyes. “Raj, could you grab my reading glasses? They’re in the top drawer of my desk back there,” he pointed to the back room. 

“Sure,” Raj turned and went to the back room. Stuart’s stomach turned a little. The plan for increased business at the shop wasn’t his only plan. He also had been trying for weeks to work into the conversation with Raj that he’s gay, but didn’t know how. The word gay hadn’t featured in their conversations at all, and the one time Stuart had said he and his last girlfriend broke up because they were absolutely not meant to be together, it had been pretty early in his friendship with Raj. At that time, he hadn’t known how much he wanted to open up to the man. So his plan was to put his glasses right on top of his stack of porn – his stack of very gay porn in the top drawer of his desk. He would send Raj back there to grab his glasses, and hopefully Raj would see the porn and put two and two together. Raj was a smart guy, he had to figure it out, Stuart assumed. 

But Raj returned less than a minute later and handed Stuart his glasses and simply said, “Here you go.”

Stuart’s smile was a little wobbly. “Thanks,” he said and put the glasses on. He bent back over the laptop to continue working on the certificate. When he finished, and it had Raj’s approval, Stuart printed out one copy. “I’ll go to Kinko’s and made copies later,” he said. 

He then pulled out about twenty-five boxes of dollar comics. Raj’s eyes grew wide, “We need to go through all of those?”

“Yeah,” Stuart nodded. He was still distracted wondering how Raj could have missed the obvious gay porn in his drawer. “I’m not sure we can do it all in a week.”

“I can bring the guys by tomorrow evening,” Raj offered. “Between the five of us, we should be able to get through it all in a couple of nights.”

Stuart shrugged, “Sure,” he agreed. “Maybe tonight you and I can rearrange a little bit then?”

Raj agreed, and left to get dinner while Stuart manned the store until closing time. He came back with pizza and beer. They ate quickly, then started dismantling a couple of shelves to make room for the kids comic racks and space for a small table. 

It was fairly hard work, and Stuart’s heart skipped another beat when Raj removed his shirt to help push a heavy display. 

Finally, it was done. It was late, and Raj was ready to go home. As Stuart unlocked the door to let Raj out, Raj said, “Oh, one more thing, Stuart.”

“Yeah?” Stuart asked, exhausted from moving displays. 

“Were you ever going to tell me you’re gay?”


	2. Chapter 2

“What?” Stuart asked, suddenly very nervous about his plan. 

“Yeeeah,” Raj said, the word drawn out. “I, uh, saw some of your porn, when I went to get your glasses. It was, you know, there. And, uh, gay.”

“Oh. That,” Stuart said weakly. 

“So you are?”

Stuart nodded mutely. 

“Good.” Raj said. 

“Good?”

“Yeah. It’ll be less weird when I do this,” Raj said as he leaned in and touched his lips to Stuart’s. 

Stuart was surprised. So surprised, that he stood rooted to the spot, his eyes still open for several moments. Finally, he closed his eyes and with a small sigh from his nose, leaned in to the kiss. Raj took that as an invitation to deepen the kiss, and he pushed Stuart into the wall. Raj leaned into Stuart, nudging Stuart’s knees open with his own knee. When their pelvises touched, Stuart jumped back. 

“What?” he asked.

Raj shrugged. 

“Are you gay?” Stuart asked with disbelief. 

Raj put his fingertips together in front of his lips and shrugged. “I don’t think so.”

Stuart stared at Raj in silence for several long moments. Finally he opened the door and said, “Well, why don’t you work on figuring it out. In the meantime, we can pretend that this never happened.”

“Stuart…” Raj said, but Stuart wordlessly held the door open wider and begged Raj with his eyes to just leave. 

Raj left.   
____

 

Despite the fact that it was after eleven o’clock at night by that point, Raj knocked on Howard and Bernadette’s apartment door. Bernadette answered, wearing a short pink robe and bunny slippers.

“Raj?” she asked “What are you doing here?”

Raj gave her a desperate look and managed to croak, “I need Howard.”

“He’s in the bedroom,” Bernadette answered and followed Raj as he rushed toward the room. 

Howard was already in bed and under the covers, but he was sitting up and reading a book. So Raj hadn’t interrupted his sleep.

“Raj?” Howard asked, surprised to see his friend there. 

“I need to talk,” Raj said. 

“Um, OK.” Howard said with concern, laying his book on the side table. Raj, realizing Bernadette was in the room, gave her a sideways look, which Howard noticed. “Bernie,” he said, “Could you give us some privacy?”

Bernadette grumbled, but left without argument. 

Howard climbed out from under the covers and sat on the edge of the bed. “Raj. What’s going on?” he asked nervously. 

Raj began pacing. “Howard, you’re my best friend, right?”

“Of course.”

“So you won’t judge me?”

“No. Of course not. I mean, I’ll probably make fun of you, but I won’t judge you.”

Raj stopped pacing for a moment and thought. “Fair enough.” He began pacing again. “I did something really stupid tonight,” he said. 

“What’d you do?” Howard asked, growing more concerned with every pass Raj made. 

Raj took a deep breath, “I made out with Stuart.”

“What?” Howard asked weakly. He narrowed his eyes and giggled a little. “Raj, no you didn’t.”

“I did.” Raj continued to pace. 

“But you aren’t gay,” Howard said, sounding very much like he was explaining something obvious to a small child.

“I know.”

“And Stuart is?”

“Yes.” Raj nodded. 

“OK then,” Howard wiped his hands on his pajama pants, thinking hard. “OK. Well, it was just a stupid mistake then. We can still go back to Stuart’s store, right? You didn’t ruin Stuart’s store for us?”

“This isn’t about Stuart’s store,” Raj said. “Which, by the way, I volunteered all of us to help him out with a project for the store,” he added quickly. 

“What?”

“Never mind that. This is about me making out with another dude.”

“It was a just a mistake, right? You regret it now, right?”

“No. I don’t regret it at all. I really liked it actually. I want to go back and make out with him some more.”

Howard paused. “Soooo…..you are gay then?”

“That’s the thing. No. I don’t feel gay.”

“So how do you feel?”

Raj took another pause in his pacing and stared momentarily in to space. “I feel just like me. Like I’ve always felt, except that I made out with a guy and enjoyed it.”

“So gay then? Maybe bi?”

“I can’t be gay. My parents are very old-fashioned. They would disown me.”

“Huh,” Howard said, a look of realization crossing his face. “I’m beginning to see how you got to thirty one years old without realizing you’re gay.”

“Not gay.” Raj insisted. “If you put Karen Gillan here in front of me, I’d make out with her too.”

“Fair enough. What about David Tennant?”

“Well, sure. But he’s the most handsome Doctor. Everyone would make out with David Tennant given the chance. Just to say they made out with The Doctor.”

Howard gave Raj a look of disbelief. “No, Raj. Everyone wouldn’t. Lesbians wouldn’t, straight guys wouldn’t.”

“Really?” 

Howard nodded. “Yeah, really.”

Raj stopped pacing and sat down on the edge of the bed next to Howard. He was silent for a few moments, then put his hands in front of his mouth in shock. “Holy crap, dude. I’m bisexual.”

“I can not believe I had to spell that out for you,” Howard mumbled. He sat still for a moment, waiting for Raj to say something, and unsure if he should be asking Raj for further details. When the silence went on a little longer, he said uneasily rubbing his hands together. “So. Tell me about this project we’re helping Stuart out with.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying not to let too much time go between chapters. But it is November, and I'm doing Nanowrimo. I also had a problem with a broken flash drive, which is too sad to get in to now. I hope you liked this chapter featured supportive!Howard.


	3. Chapter 3

Raj stood in Leonard and Sheldon’s living room after work, explaining to everyone Stuart’s situation, his plan for his business and how he needed their help and how he had volunteered them to help out.

“No,” Sheldon said simply. 

“No?” Raj asked.

“There’s a Battlestar Galactica marathon on tonight. I was already planning on watching that. So, no.”

“You can’t skip it to do one favor for a friend?” Leonard asked. 

“Stuart’s more of an acquaintance.”

“Fine,” Leonard said, exasperated. “You own Battlestar Gallactica on DVD, you don’t _need_ to watch it on TV. You should be able to do one little favor for your acquaintance.”

“I don’t think so,” Sheldon said. “There’s nothing in this for me. If I go, I miss out on the marathon, and why would I want to help out? Stuart’s store could become overrun with children, and I don’t like children. They’re messy.”

“Stuart’s pretty close to losing his store,” Raj pointed out.

Sheldon shrugged, “It’s a pity, but Stuart’s lack of business acumen is not my concern.”

“How about this,” Raj argued. “The next closest comic book store is more than twenty-five miles away. If you don’t come tonight, and Stuart loses his store, I will never drive you there.”

“Neither will I,” Leonard added in a show of solidarity. 

Sheldon looked to Penny, Howard and Bernadette, all of whom shook their heads. He turned to Amy, who hesitated. 

“If I were to drive you twenty-five miles outside Pasadena, we’re talking major hand-holding,” she bargained. “But, if you don’t want to go to the comic store tonight, I could use some help in the lab.”

“What kind of help?”

“The chimps are on twenty-four hour watch. We gave them Viagra, and we have to chart their masturbatory habits.” Amy sounded excited at the prospect of an evening watching chimps masturbate. 

Sheldon made a face, “Biology is icky.” He turned to Raj and sighed, “Fine. I’m in.”  
“Everyone else?”

“Not me,” Bernadette said. “I have a meeting tomorrow I need to prepare for.”

“Can I bring some of this?” Penny asked, holding up a bottle of wine.

Raj shrugged, “Sure.”

“Before we go though, Raj,” Penny said standing up and pointing to Raj’s glass, “What’re you drinking?”

Raj looked down at his glass, “Diet Coke,” he answered.

“How’re you able to talk to me if you aren’t drinking?”

Raj shrugged, “I guess I’m over it.”

“Just like that?” Penny asked skeptically. 

“Yeah, Raj,” Howard said, his first time speaking. “How can you talk in front of Penny sober? There’s something about this. I just don’t….buy... it.” Howard stressed the word buy heavily, causing Bernadette to stifle a giggle. 

Leonard looked confused at Howard and Raj. “Who cares? Let’s just be happy he’s over this and get going.”

When they walked into Stuart’s shop, bearing several bottles of wine Penny insisted on bringing, Stuart looked up, his face flooded with relief to see them. 

Sheldon marched up to Stuart, “You may have save me from monkeys pleasuring themselves, but you owe me a Battlestar Gallactica marathon.” He turned on his heel and walked away.

“O…kay?” Stuart responded. He’d gotten used to Sheldon’s way, but there were times when the genius puzzled him more than ever. 

Leonard, Sheldon, and Howard began pawing through the collections, and Penny got busy opening up the wine. Stuart motioned for Raj to come behind the counter and talk to him. “I didn’t know if you’d show up,” he said quietly.

Raj responded, equally quiet, “I said we’d help. So here we are.”

“I appreciate it.”

“I talked to Howard last night,” Raj said. 

Stuart glanced up at Howard, who was staring at the two of them having a whispered conversation. He quickly glanced back down at the box of comics he was going through. 

“Yeah?” Stuart asked. 

“I told him. You know…what happened last night.”

“Oh. And?”

“He kind of helped me figure things out.”

“Like what?”

“Like….that I’m bisexual.”

Stuart tightened his mouth slightly. “I don’t think it takes anyone until they’re thirty-one to figure that out, Raj. How’d Howard make you see the light?”

Raj paused and gave a small sideways smile, “It turns out, not every guy would want to make out with David Tennant.”

“Huh?”

“It was the conversation we had,” Raj explained. “I thought every guy would make out with David Tennant, you know because he’s The Doctor. But Howard explained that no, straight guys wouldn’t. And lesbians wouldn’t either. But I would.”

“So there isn’t some sort of Tennant exception?” Stuart asked. 

“There’s not,” Raj said. 

“Huh,” Stuart frowned in a thoughtful way. “I would have though there would be.”

“I know, right?”

“If you two guys are finished whispering,” Sheldon interrupted, “I’d like to get started and finished as soon as possible.”

“Later,” Stuart whispered to Raj, as he pushed himself away from the counter. “OK. I have several boxes of dollar comics,” Stuart explained. “I just need help going through these and taking out the ones that are appropriate for kids and putting them into these boxes,” he pointed to three empty boxes that sat upon the small child’s table now sitting in front of the store. 

Stuart went into the back of the store, and came out pushing a dolly loaded with six comic boxes, labeled $1 comics on the side in black permanent ink. “There are these,” he set the dolly down and began unloading the boxes, “And there are many more boxes underneath the table with the stacks,” he pointed to the table that Leonard, Sheldon, Howard and Penny were standing around. 

“Stuart,” Sheldon began, “You may know that I was an exceptionally gifted child,”

“You don’t say,” Stuart said dryly. 

“Yes, I do and therefore I have no possible way to determine what is and is not appropriate for children, as I don’t have a reasonable yard stick with which to measure a normal childhood.”

Leonard rolled his eyes, “It’s not that difficult. No sex, no blood and guts violence, and no foul language,” he turned to Stuart. “Is that about right?”

Stuart nodded, “That’s exactly right.” 

Sheldon looked put upon, “Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Stuart picked out one of the boxes and handed it to Sheldon. “There are a lot of Sonic the Hedgehog comics in this box. You can work on pulling those out first.”

They got to work, quietly at first. After ten minutes, Raj held a comic out to Stuart, "Oh my God! You have vintage My Little Pony comics in here!"

Stuart looked at Raj, interested. "Raj. Are you a _Brony_?"

Raj didn't answer directly, he began flipping through the comic. "This is so different than Friendship is Magic," he said in wonder. "I lived in India when the first ponies came out. We never got ponies there."

Leonard looked baffled, but Stuart had a wide smile on his face, "You are a Brony. That's kind of adorable."

Leonard's face became even more baffled as he looked from Raj to Stuart. "If adorable is what you want to call it."

Stuart bit his lip, realizing what he'd just said and who he'd said it in front of. Raj said nothing but was smiling mildly. Stuart was flirting with him, and Raj liked it. He glanced up at Howard who looked incredibly amused. 

Before anyone could say anything else on the subject of Ponies, Penny stood up, now drinking directly from the bottle of wine, and said "Hey Stuart?"

"Yeah," he looked up from his box of comics. 

"If you've got the kiddie table set up here," she pointed in front of the window, "You should move this spinning display somewhere else so the kids can see this shelf of toys."

"Action figures!" Raj, Stuart, Leonard, Howard and Sheldon all exclaimed at once.

She looked thoroughly unimpressed. "Uh-huh. So anyway, I can move this spinning rack, maybe over there," she pointed to the other corner, "then kids sitting right here will have a nice view of the toy shelf."

"Action figures!"

"Uh-huh. So what do you think?" Penny took a swig of Chardonnay. 

"I think that's a good idea." Stuart stood up. "But let me help you, that rack is heavy."

"Pssh" Penny waved him away. "I got this." She put her bottle down and went over to the rack nudging it a little bit. 

"The shelves come off," Stuart explained helpfully. 

"Gotcha," Penny said and began removing the shelves one by one and laying them gently on the floor. When there were no shelves left and all that remained was a spinning stand, Penny raised her arms above her head to get a good stretch of her muscles. She then wrapped both arms around the stand, heaved heavily and managed to lift the stand several inches above the ground. 

Her face was red with effort and there was a surprising bulge to her muscles. But, as she said she could, she managed to move an entire rack entirely on her own. When she put the rack down, she looked up to see every last guy, except Sheldon, staring at her in amazement. 

Penny struck a body builder's pose, "Cornhuskers!" she said. 

"I have literally never been this turned on," Leonard announced to his friends. 

"Leonard, about your use of the term 'literally,'" Sheldon began. "I think there have probably been times when you were more turned on. Perhaps right before coitus. The term you are looking for is 'figuratively.'"

"Thanks, Sheldon." Leonard said sarcastically. 

"You're welcome."

Raj and Stuart glanced at each other, rolling their eyes a little bit. 

They spent a couple of hours, and managed to make it through twelve boxes of dollar comics. All three of the kids' comics boxes were full, and Stuart decided that would be enough to begin with. 

Howard left first, then Leonard left with Sheldon and an increasingly tipsy Penny in tow. "You coming?" Leonard asked Raj. 

Raj was slowly finishing up the last box. "No, you go ahead. I'm going to finish up with this one."

Leonard shrugged. "OK."

Stuart followed them to the door and locked it behind them. He turned to Raj. "So."

Raj nodded, not looking up from his comics yet, "So."

"Did seeing Penny move that turn you on too?"

Raj looked up, "What?" he asked, laughing a little. 

Stuart shrugged, "You like girls, Raj."

"I like you more."

Stuart smiled and opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Raj stood up and walked over to Stuart, standing by the cash register. "Watching Penny was impressive, but it didn't turn me on. Thinking about kissing you last night turns me on."

Stuart grabbed Raj's hand and pulled him toward him. They kissed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out. I hate letting more than two weeks go by between chapters, but I just had the month from hell.

Raj leaned in to the kiss, opening his mouth to allow Stuart's tongue in. Stuart took full advantage of the opening to deepen the kiss further, and pulled Raj toward him harshly.

"Hnn," Raj moaned as their bodies bumped, and he wrapped his arms tightly around Stuart's waist, his tongue exploring the depths of Stuart's mouth.  Stuart's hips wriggled slightly and Raj could feel the beginning of an erection stirring in his pants.

Stuart ran his fingers through Raj's hair, then slowly ran his hands down Raj's back until he reached the waistline of Raj's pants. He began pulling at Raj's shirt, untucking it from his pants.

____

Leonard's car was parked about two blocks away. They were almost to the car, when Sheldon announced that he'd forgotten his jacket in the store, and they had to go back for it.

"We'll just get it tomorrow," Leonard said. "I'll text Raj and have him bring it to work for you."

"It might be chilly tomorrow morning," Sheldon said, shocked that Leonard wouldn't think the missing jacket was more important. "I may need it before work."

Leonard was about to argue more, when Penny drunkenly interrupted. "Oh let's just go back," she said. "You know he won't shut up until he's got the jacket back."

Leonard couldn't argue with that, so he agreed to turn around and head back to the store. Sheldon led the way, Penny and Leonard following him.  Penny and Leonard stopped in front of the pet store next door while Sheldon stopped and raised his arm to knock on Stuart's door.

Penny and Leonard looked up when they saw Sheldon hesitate, his arm raised in the air, just inches from the glass door. It seemed he couldn't complete his knock. Instead he looked curiously in the window.

"What?" Penny asked, stepping toward Sheldon and looking through the glass into the store. Her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh my God!" She squeaked and she grabbed Sheldon's hand, lowering it back to his side.

"What is it?" Leonard asked and he too stepped toward the comic book store and peered in. His breath caught when he looked in and saw Stuart and Raj kissing. "What the hell?" he whispered.

The three stood rooted to the spot, seemingly unable to move for a few seconds. When they saw Stuart's hand traveling down Raj's back and starting to pull Raj's shirt out of his pants, Penny sprung into action.

She grabbed Leonard and Sheldon by the arms and started hauling them away. "Come on," she insisted. "They don't need us to watch."

"But my jacket!" Sheldon exclaimed.

"Get it tomorrow," Penny said sharply.

Leonard was allowing Penny to pull him along with no resistance. His mind was racing. They were about a block back up the road when he had finally gathered his thoughts and said, "What the fuck was that about?"

_____

Stuart broke the kiss and looked sharply toward the window.

"What?" Raj asked, turning his head.

"Nothing. I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye." He stepped closer to the door and peered out into the desolate night. "Let's move to the back room," he suggested.

"Sure," Raj followed Stuart to the back room, and removed his sweater vest and shirt once he saw Stuart removing his own.

They crawled together on the air mattress, both sitting on their knees facing each other. Stuart patted the bed, "Sorry it's not more....a real bed."

"I don't mind,"  Raj assured him. "I just like being here with you."

A small blush rose in Stuart's face and it looked like he wanted to say something, without being able to think of the words. Finally, he settled on kissing Raj.

This was all new to Raj, kissing a man, running his hands over the flat plain of a man's chest and feeling hair but no breasts. It was different than with a girl, but Raj decided he liked it a lot.  He ran his fingers through Stuart's chest hair, getting himself used to the feeling. His thumbnail skated over one of Stuart's nipples, causing Stuart to moan and grasp hard onto Raj's back.  Stuart's nipples were sensitive; Raj filed this fact away for later use.

Stuart pushed lightly in to Raj, leaning him back so he was lying on the bed, Raj on his back and Stuart on top straddling him at the thighs. After a few minutes, Stuart began fumbling with Raj's belt buckle.

Raj pulled out of the kiss and helped Stuart with the belt. Stuart began unbuttoning Raj's pants when Raj put his hand over Stuart's. "I've never done this before," he said, sounding a little embarrassed.

Stuart sat back. "Do you want to stop?"

Raj shook his head, "No. I just....I don't really know what I'm doing."

Stuart smiled. "Well, just do what you want."

"Let me know if I'm doing anything wrong," Raj said.

"Sure. But Raj, this is probably a lot easier than with girls. I mean, you're a guy. Do to me what you like to have done to you."

"Makes sense," Raj sounded almost surprised at how logical that was.

"May I?" Stuart beckoned towards the button on Raj's pants.

"Mm-hmm," Raj said, though he unbuttoned and unzipped the pants himself.  Stuart smiled wider as he unbuttoned and unzipped his own pants. After a moment's hesitation, he just took his pants off. Raj decided to follow suit. Raj was amused and delighted to see that Stuart wore boxer briefs with the Superman logo around the waistband. He kind of wanted a pair for himself.

Stuart leaned back down and kissed Raj, and cupped Raj's balls over his boxers in his hand and ran his hand from the balls upward and around the head of Raj's cock.  Raj moaned in pleasure and reached up to grab Stuart by the ass and pull him closer. Stuart leaned down on one elbow, his other hand not leaving Raj's cock alone.  Raj decided to follow Stuart's lead, and he began to stroke Stuart from balls to the tip of his cock, trying to match the rhythm Stuart had set.

The stroking continued for a few minutes before Stuart stuck his hand into the back of Raj's boxers and began to pull down. Raj lifted his hips and Stuart was able to remove the underwear in one motion. He then leaned up and removed his own, his erection bouncing a little as the boxer-briefs were pulled down.

Stuart leaned back down to kiss Raj, taking Raj's cock into his hands fully for the first time. Raj wasn't exactly prepared for how different it would be, having larger hands belonging to a man on his cock. It was _good,_ and if Stuart wasn't careful, Raj was going to come in less than a minute. Stuart must have sensed it, because he stopped stroking for a moment. He pulled back and looked for a moment at Raj's body. Raj felt slightly awkward, but very turned on, at being looked over like that. Stuart looked back up into Raj's face, and saw Raj's swollen lips, his hair a mess, eyelids heavy, and a small sheen of sweat beginning at his brow. Raj looked absolutely _wrecked,_ which really turned Stuart on.

Stuart leaned down to kiss Raj again, this time just lightly. He reached down and went behind Raj's scrotum and began stroking along his crack, stopping to press into the perineum.

Raj sucked in a breath, "Stuart...I'm." he stopped, unsure how to say what he wanted to say.

Stuart sat back, "Was that too much?"

"I'm just...." Raj faltered. "I'm a little nervous about anything involving, you know, the rear end."

"Oh! Ok."

"I'm sorry."

"No, _no,"_ Stuart stressed. "Don't be. We can skip that." Raj looked a little nervous, like maybe he thought he was disappointing him, so Stuart stressed again, "There're plenty of other things to do," he assured Raj. As if to prove it, he leaned down and kissed Raj deeply and took his cock into his hands, stroking firmly.

Raj relaxed under him, realizing Stuart was okay with waiting for other things, and began to enjoy the feeling of Stuart stroking him.

Stuart stopped for a moment and repositioned his body so that his cock was lined up with Raj's. Then, in a move that surprised Raj, Stuart grasped both of their cocks firmly in one hand and began stroking them together.

"Hnnnn," Raj whined in the back of his throat. "Oh my god," he whispered, his eyes shut tight. He opened them slightly and saw Stuart's face, red from concentration, but biting his lip with arousal. Seeing the look on Stuart's face sent an extra shiver down Raj's spine straight into his cock.

It took all of Raj's power to stop from raising his hips well off the bed and ruining the excellent rhythm Stuart had started. Instead, he squirmed slightly and moaned.

"Oh," he breathed, "Oh Stuart, I think I'm going to come."

"Do it," Stuart commanded, his voice tight.

And Raj did, coming in thick white bursts over Stuart's fingers and his own stomach. Stuart didn't let go, and with three more quick strokes, he came also.

Stuart slackened his grip, and continued with a few more strokes before stopping, kissing Raj lightly and collapsing down next to Raj. The air mattress jiggled slightly.

The two lay side-by-side, breathing heavily.

"That was-" Raj began.

"Yeah," Stuart agreed.

________________

On the drive home, they were silent. Leonard, obviously agitated, was tapping his fingers in short staccato bursts on the steering wheel. Penny, still slightly drunk, kept side-eyeing Leonard wondering what he was thinking.

Sheldon remained in the back seat, pouting that he hadn't gotten his jacket back and that Penny was sitting in the front seat.

"So," Penny said suddenly and slightly too loudly. "Raj and Stuart, huh?"

Leonard tightened his grip on the steering wheel and grimaced. "I don't even believe it."

"Well that's silly," Sheldon said. "You saw it with your own eyes. What's not to believe?"

Leonard rolled his eyes. "I believe they were kissing. I don't believe they're 'Raj and Stuart,' a couple."

"Why not?" Penny asked.

"Because Raj isn't gay," Leonard explained.

"What we saw sure looked pretty gay," Penny said.

"He's not," Leonard said. "I just know it."

"How do you know?"

"He slept with you didn't he?" Leonard asked.

"Nope," Penny corrected. "He _tried_ to. He couldn't finish the deed."

"Still. He wanted to sleep with you. He _tried_ to sleep with you, and he wouldn't have done that if he was gay."

"Well, then," Sheldon said from the back seat. "Far be it from me to care too much about Rajesh's romantic entanglements, but how do you explain what you just saw in the comic book store? Logic dictates that Raj kissed a gentleman, therefore, Raj is gay."

Leonard shrugged uncomfortably. "Maybe he got lonely. Maybe he doesn't like being the third or fifth wheel all the time and maybe Stuart's gay and Raj is....taking advantage."

"Leonard, what's your longest dry spell?" Penny asked.

Leonard thought, "Long. Three years."

"In all that time, did it _ever_ occur to you that you could probably get some from a guy friend?"

"No."

"No," Penny agreed, "Because the only people who think that are gay people."

"Raj isn't gay," Leonard said, teeth clenched.

"How are you so sure?" Penny asked.

"Because he would have told me!" Leonard said loudly and angrily. "Because he's my friend and if it was me who was gay, I would have told him."

"Raj isn't you," Penny said.

"And I'm not homophobic. None of us are. So why wouldn't he have told us?"

Penny shrugged with exaggeration. "I don't know.  Only Raj can answer that."

________________

Stuart reached over to the night stand and pulled a few tissues from the box and handed them to Raj. Raj cleaned up his stomach as Stuart settled down next to him and pulled the covers up over them, shivering a little.

After Raj was clean, he leaned over and kissed Stuart. "Thanks," he murmured.

"For what?" Stuart asked.

"I don't even know," Raj smiled. "That was just really good. So, thanks."

Stuart settled himself into the crook of Raj's arm and stroked his chest hair absentmindedly. "It was good," he agreed. "So, I guess you're welcome."

Raj smiled as he nestled his head deeper into Stuart's pillow, enjoying the feeling of Stuart in his arms, stroking his chest. That chatted for a while before both of them drifted off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it for this story- For now anyway. I'm probably going to do a second part, taking place a few months after this story lets off. But I have a couple other things I'm working on before I can get started. I really enjoyed writing this fic, my first in TBBT fandom. I'm grateful for all the reviews and kudos!

Raj awoke the next morning somewhat groggy and unsure where he was. He opened his eyes fully and smiled to see Stuart lying next to him. Raj had slept lying on his back, and Stuart was on his side facing Raj. Raj could feel small puffs of breath on his shoulder from Stuart's even breathing.

While Stuart slept, Raj took a few moments, feeling contemplative. His life had taken a turn he'd never expected to in the last two days. That he had this whole new identity, bisexual, kind of confused him. He wondered how he hadn't figured it out before. Remembering sleeping with Stuart the previous night gave him feelings of contentment, but also a little bit of hesitation. Was this the right thing for him? He might be able to call the whole thing off and remain friends with Stuart.

Raj turned to look at Stuart more fully. He knew he didn't want to call anything off. Raj knew his insecurity lay, not with accepting himself or with how he'd fit with Stuart, but with the idea that he was eventually going to have to tell his family and friends. The thing he was truly most nervous about was that there would be a shift in how others perceived him. Stuart, Raj decided, was worth all that.

Raj slowly reached over and picked up his phone to check the time. He sat up with a start, "Shit!" he said out loud.

Stuart jerked awake "Huh?" he asked, still groggy.

"It's after seven-thirty," Raj said. "I still need to go home and shower and change for work."

Stuart sat up, stretching his arms above his head. "Sorry about that," he said. "The store  doesn't open until ten. I never set my alarm."

Raj stood up, pulling on his pants. He paused for a moment. "No worries. It's not your fault." He finished dressing, leaned down and kissed Stuart. "I'll be by tonight after work."

"Bye," Stuart called, watching as Raj rushed out the back room and into the main part of the store, waving his hand in a frantic good bye to Stuart.

Stuart pulled on his boxers and pants and went to lock the front door behind Raj.

__________

 "So is he, like, your boyfriend now?" Howard asked Raj. It was ten-thirty and they had gone to the cafeteria for a quick coffee break. Raj had gotten in to work late, but only by five minutes. This had been his first opportunity to talk to Howard this morning.

Raj shrugged, "I don't know. We haven't really talked about it."

"You were just...." Howard drifted off.

"Doing other things last night."

Howard scratched his nose.  "Listen, if Stuart was a girl, I'd be asking you for all the details. But I'm just not going to with Stuart, so I hope that doesn't make me homophobic  or whatever now."

Raj looked at Howard with amusement, particularly after seeing that Howard's face looked sincerely concerned. He smiled, "Don't worry, Howard.  I think you're a lot of things, but a homophobe isn't one of them."

"I'm really not," Howard said earnestly. "I'm supportive of this whole thing, I just.....eh."

"The details of my sex life don't do it for you. I get it. It's fine."

"So are you going to tell the others?"

"I have to, right?"

"Yeah," Howard nodded.

"Stuart's friends with them too. So I won't tell them yet. I want to talk to Stuart about it first. Maybe find out how he came out. God, I don't even know if he _is_ out to anyone else."

Howard smiled a little. "Aw. You're still in that getting to know each other phase. How cute."

Raj shoved him a lightly, "Shut up, old married dude," he replied joining Howard in laughter.

At lunch, the four of them were silent, everyone's heads down, concentrating on their food. Leonard's leg jiggled in agitation.

Finally Leonard spoke up, "Raj, what time did you leave Stuart's last night?"

Raj looked up and shrugged, "A little after you did." Before looking back at his food, he glanced at Howard, who hadn't looked up at all.

"It must have been late," Leonard said.

"Why?"

Leonard shrugged a little. "I've never seen you come in to work without shaving. You have scruff."

Raj speared a large bit of salad with his fork, "I slept in late," he said right before shoving the bite into his mouth and chewing.

"Huh. OK." Leonard said and he went back to eating.

A few minutes went by, and Leonard spoke up again. "You know, Raj. If you can talk to Penny now, maybe you can talk to other girls too. We can see if Penny knows anyone from work?"

This time Howard did look up and stare at Raj with interest.

"No thanks," Raj said and took a big gulp of diet coke.

"You don't think that might be fun?"

"Leonard," Sheldon interjected. "Why are you asking him this. I think we know that Rajesh wouldn't be interested."

Leonard, none too subtly, kicked Sheldon's shin under the table.

"Ouch!" Sheldon said. "What was that for?"

"Probably to get you to shut up," Howard explained. "That's usually why one kicks someone under the table."

"Well." Sheldon said, clearly surprised. "How rude."

"Why would you know I wouldn't be interested?" Raj asked.

"I don't know what Sheldon means," Leonard said.

"Sure you do," Sheldon said, moving his legs quickly out of the way from another attempted kick by Leonard. Sheldon turned to Raj. "We came back to the store last night to get my jacket and we saw you and Stuart kissing."

Howard choked on his drink and started coughing.

They were silent for a few moments, except for Howard's continued coughing.

"You saw that?" Raj asked quietly.

"Yeah," Leonard said, sounding as though he was admitting something awful.

Raj stood up and grabbed his tray, picking it up forcefully, causing a few pieces of lettuce to fall to the table. "You're an asshole, Leonard. You could have just _asked_ me about it." Raj turned and walked away.

Howard's cough had subsided and he shot Leonard a nasty look. "Why'd you have to bait him like that? That's some passive-aggressive bullshit."

"Did _you_ know about this?" Leonard asked.

"Yeah."

"Why wouldn't he have told us?"

Howard rolled his eyes. "Did you hear anything Raj just said. He said, and I quote 'You could have just asked me about it.' So if you want to know why, go ask him."

"I think I will," Leonard said, clearing his tray.

Howard and Sheldon watched him go. Sheldon took a small bite of his food before saying, "If Koothrappali is Stuart's boyfriend, I wonder if we could get a discount at the comic store."

____

Leonard found Raj in his office, leaned back in his office chair with his feet up on his desk. He was staring blankly at his computer screen and sipping his diet coke. Leonard glanced at the computer, which was opened to the web page for Stuart's store.

"Raj," Leonard said. "I'm sorry."

Raj shrugged. "I really don't know why you couldn't have just asked me. Or, you know, waited until I was ready to tell you."

Leonard shrugged this time. "I should have," he admitted.  He sat down at a chair across the desk from Raj. "I should have respected your privacy."

"I guess I shouldn't have kissed him right in front of the door," Raj admitted.

Leonard smiled slightly, the corner of one side of his mouth quirking  a little. He grabbed some papers off Raj's desk and started straightening them absent-mindedly. " Is now an OK time to ask you about it?"

"I guess."

"OK," Leonard nodded, placing the neater stack back on Raj's desk. "Raj, I saw you and Stuart kissing last night. I'm asking you what that is all about and why you never told us that you're gay."

"I'm not gay," Raj explained somewhat monotone. "I'm bisexual. And I was kissing Stuart because he _is_ gay and I really like him."

"OK," Leonard said. "Now I'm going to ask you why you never told us that you're bisexual."

Raj looked at him. "I honestly didn't know it myself until two days ago."

"Come on, Raj. You're thirty-one."

"I'm well aware of my age." Raj paused, "I don't know why I didn't realize it until Howard made it clear a couple nights ago."

"Howard?" Leonard asked in disbelief. "How'd he figure it out?"

Raj rolled his eyes, "Because I told him I made out with Stuart."

"So _you_ made out with Stuart, and Howard still figured it out before you?" Leonard asked. Then he smiled and put up his hands in surrender. "You know what? I don't need to know the details. I just came in to say I'm sorry for acting like an ass out there. So, I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

"So we're cool, right?"

Raj asked, "You don't care that I'm bi? That I'm seeing Stuart?"

Leonard looked confused, "Why would I care?"

Raj smiled and nodded, "OK. We're cool."

____________

"So everyone knows?" Stuart asked later that night when Raj stopped by the store and told him about his day.

"Everyone knows," Raj nodded.

"And Leonard, Sheldon, and Penny saw us in here last night? Kissing?"

Raj nodded.

"I thought I saw something, some little movement out of the corner of my eye." Stuart paused, rubbing his chin. Finally he shrugged. "Maybe it was for the best. Now you don't have to have any awkward coming out moments."

"It was a little awkward," Raj insisted.

"Yeah, but they're your friends and they're all good with the whole gay thing."

"Our friends," Raj corrected him. "They're our friends, not just mine."

"Well," Stuart shrugged him off a little, "Sheldon thinks I'm an acquaintance."

"Yeah, but Sheldon is Sheldon."

"True," Stuart answered. He looked around. "What're we going to do tonight?"

"Want to come back to my place?"

"What, my swanky digs and comfortable bed don't do it for you?" Stuart waved his hands toward the back room.

They didn't, but Raj didn't want to be insulting, "Well. My place is closer to my work. So if I don't wake up until seven thirty tomorrow, it's no big deal."

"So we could be up late...." Stuart drifted off, "playing video games?"

"Oh. Playing video games. Is that what we're calling it now?"

Stuart grabbed his phone and looked at the time, "Store closes in ten minutes. We can be at your place in a half hour."

"For video games right?" Raj winked.

Stuart smiled, he couldn't remember ever being winked at. He laughed as he answered using finger quotes, "Sure, video games."

Both of them laughed, hearts skipping with excitement over what that evening, and evenings into the future would bring.

**Author's Note:**

> Until a few weeks ago, I had never thought of seeking out Big Bang Theory fanfic. But then my eyes opened to the fact that Raj and Stuart must be shipped. So this is what I came up with. Expect about four or five chapters - which will come out faster after nanowrimo.


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